Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia could possibly return to action against Jason Riley at Adrenaline MMA IV from the Mid-America Center in Coucil Bluffs, Iowa, on Sept. 18.
Riley recently spilled the beans via his personal MySpace.com page. No official confirmation from Sylvia’s manager, Monte Cox — who also runs Adrenaline — was available at press time.
If the bout does go down it will mark the return of Sylvia since a shocking 10-second knockout loss to 48-year-old professional boxer Ray Mercer back in June. Perhaps the only thing more shocking than the defeat was Sylvia’s scale-busting, coming in at a portly 310 pounds.
Prior to the Mercer debacle, Sylvia had been on the shelf since getting steamrolled by Fedor Emelianenko at Affliction “Banned” in July 2008. It marker more than a year of inactivity, which along with his weight, could be have been a factor in the fight against “Merciless.”
The unsanctioned bout in Birmingham, Ala., put Sylvia on a three-fight losing skid. He was supposed to return against Paul Buentello at Affliction: “Trilogy” on Aug. 1; however, he was scratched after the loss (the event was eventually scrapped altogether).
In short, the former UFC headliner has now dropped four of his last five contests. He’ll need all the help he can get to ensure that he breaks out of his slump sooner rather than later.
And perhaps the relatively unknown Riley is just the opponent to help him do it.
Riley has certainly never faced anyone as high profile or experienced as Sylvia throughout his seven-fight professional mixed martial arts career. However, he has had solid success since his debut back in 2007, racking up six wins versus just one defeat.
He’s currently on a two-fight win streak, knocking out Justin Black with a punch earlier this year at NAAFS: “Caged Vengeance 4.”

So Monte's going to have to pay a bunch of cans a bunch of money to make Tim feel good about himself again so he can eventually try & fight a real opponent eventually.